¹ tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.

² tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

¹ tn Heb “and a priest, if he buys a person, the property of his silver.”

⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn The pronoun “he” refers to the priest mentioned in the previous verse.

² tn Heb “the priest shall not search to the reddish yellow hair.”

¹ tn Heb “And if the priest sees and behold”; NASB “and indeed.”

³ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the scall a second seven days.”

² tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection of the scall seven days.”

³ tn Heb “to all the appearance of the eyes of the priest.”

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection seven days.”

¹ tn Heb “on the garment”; NCV “on any clothes”; CEV “on the clothes of the priest.”

³ tn This entire clause is a translation of the Hebrew לְכַהֲנוֹ־לִי (l^ekhahano li, “that he might be a priest to me”), but the form is unusual. The word means “to be a priest” or “to act as a priest.” The etymology of the word for priest, כֹּהֵן (kohen), is uncertain.

² tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause significantly identifies Melchizedek as a priest as well as a king.

⁵ sn The Davidic king’s priestly role is analogous to that of Melchizedek, who was both “king of Salem” (i.e., Jerusalem) and a “priest of God Most High” in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:18-20). Like Melchizedek, the Davidic king was a royal priest, distinct from the Aaronic line (see Heb 7). The analogy focuses on the king’s priestly role; the language need not imply that Melchizedek himself was “an eternal priest.”

¹ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Tg. Onq. have plural “priests” here (cf. 1:5, 8) rather than the MT singular “priest” (cf. NAB). The singular “priest” would mean (1) Aaron, the (high) priest, or (2) the officiating priest, as in Lev 1:9 (cf. 6:10 [3 HT], etc.). “The sons of Aaron” may be a textual conflation with Lev 1:5, 8 (cf. the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 13).

² tn Grk “one of the high priest’s servants standing by gave Jesus a strike, saying.” For the translation of ῥάπισμα (rhapisma), see L&N 19.4.

² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context between the priest’s expected action (helping the victim) and what he really did.